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Cue Up the Twilight Zone Theme. Baker spots UFO

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  • well, I've always be an outdoorsman/kid. Back in the sixties, on the farm, I'd go out and watch the stars at night sometimes, waiting for shooting stars. One night, there was a bright "star" moving across the sky, but about 3? times faster than any satellite I've ever seen, and far faster than the space station moves across the sky. I was watching it, moving fast, on a crystal clear dark night, and about the middle of the sky, it made a freaking 90 degree angle, and started fading out, like a ufo going away from earth.

        Never saw anything like that again. 90 degrees? what the....so I give the Mayfields all the respect for what they saw.

    You just never know.

    As far as constellations... all I need to know is that the front lip of the big dipper, bottom to top, points toward North.

    T TexasAg1969 wrote on last edited by TexasAg1969
    #34

    @calfoxwc said:

    well, I've always be an outdoorsman/kid. Back in the sixties, on the farm, I'd go out and watch the stars at night sometimes, waiting for shooting stars.

    As far as constellations... all I need to know is that the front lip of the big dipper, bottom to top, points toward North.

    In "point" of fact they aim directly at Polaris, the North Star. Of course if it's cloudy I take out my trusty multi-decade old turn of the 19th century brass cased compass.?

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris#:~:text=Big Dipper stars point to North Star. A,well known among amateur astronomers as The Pointers.

  • @calfoxwc said:

    well, I've always be an outdoorsman/kid. Back in the sixties, on the farm, I'd go out and watch the stars at night sometimes, waiting for shooting stars.

    As far as constellations... all I need to know is that the front lip of the big dipper, bottom to top, points toward North.

    In "point" of fact they aim directly at Polaris, the North Star. Of course if it's cloudy I take out my trusty multi-decade old turn of the 19th century brass cased compass.?

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris#:~:text=Big Dipper stars point to North Star. A,well known among amateur astronomers as The Pointers.

    hoortaH hoorta wrote on last edited by hoorta
    #35

    @texasag1969 said:

    In "point" of fact they aim directly at Polaris, the North Star. Of course if it's cloudy I take out my trusty multi-decade old turn of the 19th century brass cased compass.?

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris#:~:text=Big Dipper stars point to North Star. A,well known among amateur astronomers as The Pointers.

    More trivia. 🙂  Well if it's a clear night- at least in Ohio, I can always orient myself.  OTOH, we're living in a time where Polaris is (pretty close, not exactly) our "North Star". Wasn't always- or will be the case.  The Earth, because of the gravitational drag on the us from the Moon wobbles like a top that's slowing down. It takes 24,000 years to complete one wobble.  (Um, more accurately- the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn should now be renamed the Tropic of Gemini and Tropic of Sagittarius. )  Stars like Thuban in the constellation Draco, or Vega in Lyra will be "North Stars"- eventually.  FWIW, currently there's no "South Star".  The very dim 5th magnitude star Sigma Octans is as close as you get.  

    Now if you go way north- or way south, your perspective changes dramatically. The one time I was in Alaska when it was dark enough to see stars- really disorienting.  Those stars should be way up there- but they weren't. My bucket list thing is to get south of the equator to see the sky (and Orion) flipped upside down. Tahiti at 17 degrees south works. 🙂  

    PS- as a kid - I thought I wanted to be a professional Astronomer. Several problems. First, you have to be a crack mathematician. Second, you need at least a Doctorate, and job opportunities are extremely limited. Third,  guys were researching stuff at the time like Chandrasekhar's Limit, orbital mechanics (Grandpa gave me a magazine that had the equations on how we got the Mariner probe to Venus in 1962) , and theoretical astrophysics have zero interest to me.  

  • @texasag1969 said:

    In "point" of fact they aim directly at Polaris, the North Star. Of course if it's cloudy I take out my trusty multi-decade old turn of the 19th century brass cased compass.?

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris#:~:text=Big Dipper stars point to North Star. A,well known among amateur astronomers as The Pointers.

    More trivia. 🙂  Well if it's a clear night- at least in Ohio, I can always orient myself.  OTOH, we're living in a time where Polaris is (pretty close, not exactly) our "North Star". Wasn't always- or will be the case.  The Earth, because of the gravitational drag on the us from the Moon wobbles like a top that's slowing down. It takes 24,000 years to complete one wobble.  (Um, more accurately- the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn should now be renamed the Tropic of Gemini and Tropic of Sagittarius. )  Stars like Thuban in the constellation Draco, or Vega in Lyra will be "North Stars"- eventually.  FWIW, currently there's no "South Star".  The very dim 5th magnitude star Sigma Octans is as close as you get.  

    Now if you go way north- or way south, your perspective changes dramatically. The one time I was in Alaska when it was dark enough to see stars- really disorienting.  Those stars should be way up there- but they weren't. My bucket list thing is to get south of the equator to see the sky (and Orion) flipped upside down. Tahiti at 17 degrees south works. 🙂  

    PS- as a kid - I thought I wanted to be a professional Astronomer. Several problems. First, you have to be a crack mathematician. Second, you need at least a Doctorate, and job opportunities are extremely limited. Third,  guys were researching stuff at the time like Chandrasekhar's Limit, orbital mechanics (Grandpa gave me a magazine that had the equations on how we got the Mariner probe to Venus in 1962) , and theoretical astrophysics have zero interest to me.  

    T TexasAg1969 wrote on last edited by
    #36

    @hoorta said:

    More trivia. 🙂  Well if it's a clear night- at least in Ohio, I can always orient myself.  OTOH, we're living in a time where Polaris is (pretty close, not exactly) our "North Star". Wasn't always- or will be the case.  The Earth, because of the gravitational drag on the us from the Moon wobbles like a top that's slowing down. It takes 24,000 years to complete one wobble.  (Um, more accurately- the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn should now be renamed the Tropic of Gemini and Tropic of Sagittarius. )  Stars like Thuban in the constellation Draco, or Vega in Lyra will be "North Stars"- eventually.  FWIW, currently there's no "South Star".  The very dim 5th magnitude star Sigma Octans is as close as you get.  

    Now if you go way north- or way south, your perspective changes dramatically. The one time I was in Alaska when it was dark enough to see stars- really disorienting.  Those stars should be way up there- but they weren't. My bucket list thing is to get south of the equator to see the sky (and Orion) flipped upside down. Tahiti at 17 degrees south works. 🙂  

    PS- as a kid - I thought I wanted to be a professional Astronomer. Several problems. First, you have to be a crack mathematician. Second, you need at least a Doctorate, and job opportunities are extremely limited. Third,  guys were researching stuff at the time like Chandrasekhar's Limit, orbital mechanics (Grandpa gave me a magazine that had the equations on how we got the Mariner probe to Venus in 1962) , and theoretical astrophysics have zero interest to me.  

    And on my bucket list is to see the Southern Cross. Got my "pioneering" compass all set to go. Damn this COVID crap.?

  • @texasag1969 said:

    In "point" of fact they aim directly at Polaris, the North Star. Of course if it's cloudy I take out my trusty multi-decade old turn of the 19th century brass cased compass.?

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/use-the-pointers-to-find-polaris#:~:text=Big Dipper stars point to North Star. A,well known among amateur astronomers as The Pointers.

    More trivia. 🙂  Well if it's a clear night- at least in Ohio, I can always orient myself.  OTOH, we're living in a time where Polaris is (pretty close, not exactly) our "North Star". Wasn't always- or will be the case.  The Earth, because of the gravitational drag on the us from the Moon wobbles like a top that's slowing down. It takes 24,000 years to complete one wobble.  (Um, more accurately- the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn should now be renamed the Tropic of Gemini and Tropic of Sagittarius. )  Stars like Thuban in the constellation Draco, or Vega in Lyra will be "North Stars"- eventually.  FWIW, currently there's no "South Star".  The very dim 5th magnitude star Sigma Octans is as close as you get.  

    Now if you go way north- or way south, your perspective changes dramatically. The one time I was in Alaska when it was dark enough to see stars- really disorienting.  Those stars should be way up there- but they weren't. My bucket list thing is to get south of the equator to see the sky (and Orion) flipped upside down. Tahiti at 17 degrees south works. 🙂  

    PS- as a kid - I thought I wanted to be a professional Astronomer. Several problems. First, you have to be a crack mathematician. Second, you need at least a Doctorate, and job opportunities are extremely limited. Third,  guys were researching stuff at the time like Chandrasekhar's Limit, orbital mechanics (Grandpa gave me a magazine that had the equations on how we got the Mariner probe to Venus in 1962) , and theoretical astrophysics have zero interest to me.  

    OrionO Orion wrote on last edited by
    #37

    @hoorta said:

    First, you have to be a crack mathematician

    Yeah.  That's where they lost me.  I'm only good at the guzintas.  One guzinta two.  Two guzinta four,  etc.

  • @hoorta said:

    More trivia. 🙂  Well if it's a clear night- at least in Ohio, I can always orient myself.  OTOH, we're living in a time where Polaris is (pretty close, not exactly) our "North Star". Wasn't always- or will be the case.  The Earth, because of the gravitational drag on the us from the Moon wobbles like a top that's slowing down. It takes 24,000 years to complete one wobble.  (Um, more accurately- the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn should now be renamed the Tropic of Gemini and Tropic of Sagittarius. )  Stars like Thuban in the constellation Draco, or Vega in Lyra will be "North Stars"- eventually.  FWIW, currently there's no "South Star".  The very dim 5th magnitude star Sigma Octans is as close as you get.  

    Now if you go way north- or way south, your perspective changes dramatically. The one time I was in Alaska when it was dark enough to see stars- really disorienting.  Those stars should be way up there- but they weren't. My bucket list thing is to get south of the equator to see the sky (and Orion) flipped upside down. Tahiti at 17 degrees south works. 🙂  

    PS- as a kid - I thought I wanted to be a professional Astronomer. Several problems. First, you have to be a crack mathematician. Second, you need at least a Doctorate, and job opportunities are extremely limited. Third,  guys were researching stuff at the time like Chandrasekhar's Limit, orbital mechanics (Grandpa gave me a magazine that had the equations on how we got the Mariner probe to Venus in 1962) , and theoretical astrophysics have zero interest to me.  

    And on my bucket list is to see the Southern Cross. Got my "pioneering" compass all set to go. Damn this COVID crap.?

    hoortaH hoorta wrote on last edited by
    #38

    @texasag1969 said:

    And on my bucket list is to see the Southern Cross. Got my "pioneering" compass all set to go. Damn this COVID crap.?

    Well I can say I've seen it. I'd almost say prepare to be disappointed. Theoretically- it clears the southern horizon in Key West, but you need to go far farther south for a better look. Like I did for a total solar eclipse in Curacao back in 1998. It's bright, but it's tiny. Use the two pointer stars in the Big Dipper for scale. Surprisingly, west of it there's an asterism called the False Cross that's bigger, and almost as bright.    

  • NeroN Nero wrote on last edited by
    #39

    I can't read it all, but I'm just gonna say one theory that I have. With the number of UFOs that are sighted in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if they were related to some aircraft by the Air Force or NASA or something like that. 

    The US has the best aviation on Earth because it guarantees a supremacy in many conflicts, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were secret aircrafts or spacecrafts (talking about drones, special satellites or stuff like that) that are sighted by people on the ground. 

    Plus it was in Texas, right? Aren't there Houston and other NASA related bases? 

    Btw, I took my usual break from the NFL so that's why I only commented on this topic. I usually read topic titles lately. 

  • jrb12711J jrb12711 wrote on last edited by jrb12711
    #40

    Look, the military literally came out and said we need help cause we have a confirmed case of a UFO. It's not crazy to think other people are seeing them.

    Also, that Cowherd clip might literally be the dumbest thing that man has ever said. 

  • Dutch OvenD Dutch Oven wrote on last edited by
    #41

    Baker used to get hummers from skanks in the parking lot of Cheesecake Factories, now he's seeing UFOs.

    Safe to say he never will have a boring offseason. Can't wait to see what happens next offseason. 

  • The GipperT The Gipper wrote on last edited by
    #42
  • hoortaH hoorta wrote on last edited by
    #43

    @the-gipper said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/warp-drive-faster-light-space-travel-b1813958.html

    Nice try...  From the comments...  

    "Aside from the fact that there are no known ways to either contract existing spacetime or create new spacetime on demand, so the propulsion technique is entirely imaginary, hey, why not? I can imagine a sparkly yellow unicorn dancing in orbit around Mars, too - which is just as probable as this propulsive system."

    Just a modified wormhole theory Gipper...  Other than far beyond anything we can currently produce- it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to accelerate an object to quantum speeds. FWIW, the best we can currently do- 150,000 mph- we're well short of the roughly 3,600X faster we'd need to go- just to get to the speed of light.  The other obvious thing- assuming Einstein is right- when you accelerate an object to above light speed- time moves backwards.  For a kicks and giggles thought. Let's assume a spacecraft moving at double the speed of light. We get to Alpha Centauri in two years- that's 1\2 the time it took light to get to Earth. We're now living (relative to Earth)- two years in the past.  🙂  

    So is the speed of light the speed limit of our Universe?  That will be a question for generations in our far distant future to answer.  

  • Baker used to get hummers from skanks in the parking lot of Cheesecake Factories, now he's seeing UFOs.

    Safe to say he never will have a boring offseason. Can't wait to see what happens next offseason. 

    T TexasAg1969 wrote on last edited by
    #44

    @dutch-oven said:

    Baker used to get hummers from skanks in the parking lot of Cheesecake Factories, now he's seeing UFOs.

    Safe to say he never will have a boring offseason. Can't wait to see what happens next offseason. 

    Until I see him rolling up $20s on a rubber swan in a Vegas pool with a half-filled bottle of Jack floating nearby, he ain't got off-season game.?

  • @the-gipper said:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/warp-drive-faster-light-space-travel-b1813958.html

    Nice try...  From the comments...  

    "Aside from the fact that there are no known ways to either contract existing spacetime or create new spacetime on demand, so the propulsion technique is entirely imaginary, hey, why not? I can imagine a sparkly yellow unicorn dancing in orbit around Mars, too - which is just as probable as this propulsive system."

    Just a modified wormhole theory Gipper...  Other than far beyond anything we can currently produce- it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to accelerate an object to quantum speeds. FWIW, the best we can currently do- 150,000 mph- we're well short of the roughly 3,600X faster we'd need to go- just to get to the speed of light.  The other obvious thing- assuming Einstein is right- when you accelerate an object to above light speed- time moves backwards.  For a kicks and giggles thought. Let's assume a spacecraft moving at double the speed of light. We get to Alpha Centauri in two years- that's 1\2 the time it took light to get to Earth. We're now living (relative to Earth)- two years in the past.  🙂  

    So is the speed of light the speed limit of our Universe?  That will be a question for generations in our far distant future to answer.  

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on last edited by
    #45

    @hoorta said:

    Nice try...  From the comments...  

    "Aside from the fact that there are no known ways to either contract existing spacetime or create new spacetime on demand, so the propulsion technique is entirely imaginary, hey, why not? I can imagine a sparkly yellow unicorn dancing in orbit around Mars, too - which is just as probable as this propulsive system."

    Just a modified wormhole theory Gipper...  Other than far beyond anything we can currently produce- it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to accelerate an object to quantum speeds. FWIW, the best we can currently do- 150,000 mph- we're well short of the roughly 3,600X faster we'd need to go- just to get to the speed of light.  The other obvious thing- assuming Einstein is right- when you accelerate an object to above light speed- time moves backwards.  For a kicks and giggles thought. Let's assume a spacecraft moving at double the speed of light. We get to Alpha Centauri in two years- that's 1\2 the time it took light to get to Earth. We're now living (relative to Earth)- two years in the past.  🙂  

    So is the speed of light the speed limit of our Universe?  That will be a question for generations in our far distant future to answer.  

    What about the "wormhole" theory?   I see it in science fiction all the time....but what is the supposed theory behind it.  Stargate?

    As, as a Dune fan,  there is the concept of "Folding Space".   Is that too just a modified wormhole theory?  Whatever that is

  • @hoorta said:

    Nice try...  From the comments...  

    "Aside from the fact that there are no known ways to either contract existing spacetime or create new spacetime on demand, so the propulsion technique is entirely imaginary, hey, why not? I can imagine a sparkly yellow unicorn dancing in orbit around Mars, too - which is just as probable as this propulsive system."

    Just a modified wormhole theory Gipper...  Other than far beyond anything we can currently produce- it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to accelerate an object to quantum speeds. FWIW, the best we can currently do- 150,000 mph- we're well short of the roughly 3,600X faster we'd need to go- just to get to the speed of light.  The other obvious thing- assuming Einstein is right- when you accelerate an object to above light speed- time moves backwards.  For a kicks and giggles thought. Let's assume a spacecraft moving at double the speed of light. We get to Alpha Centauri in two years- that's 1\2 the time it took light to get to Earth. We're now living (relative to Earth)- two years in the past.  🙂  

    So is the speed of light the speed limit of our Universe?  That will be a question for generations in our far distant future to answer.  

    What about the "wormhole" theory?   I see it in science fiction all the time....but what is the supposed theory behind it.  Stargate?

    As, as a Dune fan,  there is the concept of "Folding Space".   Is that too just a modified wormhole theory?  Whatever that is

    hoortaH hoorta wrote on last edited by hoorta
    #46

    @the-gipper said:

    What about the "wormhole" theory?   I see it in science fiction all the time....but what is the supposed theory behind it.  Stargate?

    As, as a Dune fan,  there is the concept of "Folding Space".   Is that too just a modified wormhole theory?  Whatever that is

    It "wormholes" is just a "theory" Gipper. There's no proof they actually exist. Wishful thinking?

    That one comment from my previous post mentioned "space-time". Relativity says they're not two separate entities, they're linked. Think of it as an X-Y graph with space and time on different axis. The faster you move through space, the slower time goes, until at the speed of light- time = 0.

    Everything we've seen to date essentially supports it.  Maybe there are objects flying around faster than light in an alternate universe that we can't detect, who knows? Getting there isn't in our current ability.  🙂

  • OrionO Orion wrote on last edited by
    #47

    According to Bob Lazar, the Roswell space ship (that he worked with) somehow contracts space ahead of you and expands it behind you.  Almost like sucking you forward.  Of course, that's if you believe any of that Roswell stuff.

    Wormholes, man, that would take Soooo much energy to create.  And then you have to keep it open.  And you have to somehow fly through it.  And how would you know where the hell you'd end up?  And how would you get back?  Theoretical stuff.....and we just don't see any of it anywhere.

    So far, the speed of light is the limit.  And that speed is incredibly slow...when thinking about the vast distances to actually get anywhere.  And you have to be a mass-less particle (oxymoronic) to attain such a speed.

    The nearest star is way waaaay too far away for us to ever dream of reaching......at this point in time.

  • @nickers said:

    I had also read that there are suns so big.. it takes centuries even millenia to make one single orbit around it... I find that fascinating.. And really puts you in perspective to what we really are in terms of scale.. It makes me wonder if there is some microbial lifeform with intelligence equal or greater than ours... Thats mind numbing when you think of the scope of our universe...

    I knew off of the top of my head many stars are so large, Saturn's orbit would fit very comfortably inside them.  Here's an image of the largest star we know about. In the dim constellation Scutum, 20 degrees north of Sagittarius.  

    How big is the biggest star we have ever found?

    @nickers said:

    Me too... I just don't own a telescope yet.. I'm a space junkie...

    As to telescopes I actually own- an old 6" f\10 reflector I built 50 years ago. And a Meade 4" Schmidt-Cassegrain- the biggest 'scope that will fit in an overhead bin of an airplane. Handy when you go on solar eclipse trips. But you rapidly get spoiled when you have access to the local astronomy club's 16" reflector, or head out to star parties at dark sky sites where guys who are really into it haul their 24" and larger telescopes there on trailers. Jupiter was so bright looking through one of those 24" scopes, it almost hurt your eyes to look at it. 

    PS- it's a waste of money having one of those big scopes, unless you live somewhere way out in the country. With the ever increasing light pollution and sky glow, looking for- as I like to call them "the dim fuzzies" is like trying to spot a polar bear in a blizzard.  

    OrionO Orion wrote on last edited by Orion
    #48

    @hoorta said:

    Here's an image of the largest star we know about. In the dim constellation Scutum, 20 degrees north of Sagittarius.  

    How big is the biggest star we have ever found?

    Actually, due to a distance measuring error, it's not even in the top 10 anymore.  It's much closer to us than they thought.  The new (and temporary) largest star is one of the Stephenson Group.

    I really like these Kurzgesagt guys videos too...

  • DieHardBrownsFanD DieHardBrownsFan wrote on last edited by
    #49

    God is great.

  • @hoorta said:

    Here's an image of the largest star we know about. In the dim constellation Scutum, 20 degrees north of Sagittarius.  

    How big is the biggest star we have ever found?

    Actually, due to a distance measuring error, it's not even in the top 10 anymore.  It's much closer to us than they thought.  The new (and temporary) largest star is one of the Stephenson Group.

    I really like these Kurzgesagt guys videos too...

    hoortaH hoorta wrote on last edited by
    #50

    @orion said:

    Actually, due to a distance measuring error, it's not even in the top 10 anymore.  It's much closer to us than they thought. 

    The new (and temporary) largest star is one of the Stephenson Group.

    I really like these Kurzgesagt guys videos too...

    But does it really matter?  All the contenders in the supergiant category are of the red persuasion. We're never going to personally visit any of them in our lifetimes anyway.  🙂  

  • C calfoxwc wrote on last edited by
    #51

    https://www.mufon.com/ufo-news

    Delta-shaped Object Silhouetted by Moon

    Case 113663: Susanne, Mark and Tyler [last name withheld] were on a family vacation in Divide, Colorado.  Suzanne claims to have seen a “dark object reflecting off the Moon.”  Divide is in the vicinity of Colorado Springs, approximately 60 miles south of Denver.  Colorado Springs is the location of the US Air Force and US Space Force Academy.  Petersen Air Force Base is also located nearby and adjacent to the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. Colorado Springs is home to the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) and the Space Force’s 21st Space Wing. 
     
    While taking pictures, Suzanne zoomed in on the dark object which appeared to be a small triangle-shaped object silhouetted by the Moon.  She indicated in the CMS report that the Moon was at 90° above the horizon, that it glowed and left a trail or cloud.  Her initial photo is shown below.  The duration of the observation was one hour.  The object has a definite triangle or arrowhead shape.

    021721a_orig.jpg

  • T TexasAg1969 wrote on last edited by
    #52

    Y'all hear about the Aggie Astronaut who wanted to be the first man to land on the sun? Now don't laugh. He won't just burn up. He's going at night.??‍??

  • @orion said:

    Actually, due to a distance measuring error, it's not even in the top 10 anymore.  It's much closer to us than they thought. 

    The new (and temporary) largest star is one of the Stephenson Group.

    I really like these Kurzgesagt guys videos too...

    But does it really matter?  All the contenders in the supergiant category are of the red persuasion. We're never going to personally visit any of them in our lifetimes anyway.  🙂  

    OrionO Orion wrote on last edited by
    #53

    @hoorta said:

    But does it really matter?  All the contenders in the supergiant category are of the red persuasion. We're never going to personally visit any of them in our lifetimes anyway.  🙂  

    Honestly, I don't think that dying stars should count in the size competition.  They're losing their ability to hang on to their mass.  Outer layers are just kinda' poofing off.  Like when our sun dies, it's outer layers are gonna swell out to earth's orbit (or there abouts).  But that's not really a true measure of what the star really was.  It's just a big fucking hot cloud that will engulf the earth (if it reaches and/or push earth farther out).